FRONTIER PROBLEM

Evening Post, Volume XCVIII, Issue 146, 18 December 1919, Page 2

FRONTIER PROBLEM

BELGIAN-DUTCH DISPUTE LEG-ACT OF GERMAN STATESMANSHIP. Tlie Belgian-Dutch conflict seems to . have reached a deadlock (writes the Paris correspondent of the Christian Science Monitor). The declarations of Mr. Seggers for Belgium and of Mr. van Swinderen for Holland prove that the standpoints they defend are as irreconcilable as ever. ■ The facts of the case represent one more example of the disastrous effect of Prussian intervention in international politics. When Belgium separated from Holland by the Revolution of 1830, the left bank of the Scheldt and the whole of Limburg were allotted' to it. But the King of Holland was slow to forget what he considered an intolerable injustice, and nine years later he succeeded in per- • suading Prussia to exact the restoration of these territories in ■ consideration of the annulment of a heavy debt which Prussia then owed him. The arrangement presented for the King of Prussia other advantages than the mere paymerit of his debts with what belonged to another. For the territorial modification thus obtained allowed Holland to penetrate deeply into the western part of Belgium on the banks of the Scheldt, and into the east on the banks of the Meuse, By awarding the mouth of the Scheldt to Holland, the King of Prussia closed the doors of Belgium to England, whilst by the creation of a Dutch wedge on the Meuß6 he reserved for himself the , possibility of invading Belgian territory when circumstances would appear most favourable for this enterprise FAVOURING- THE GERMANS. Crossing Limburg in 1914, the German armies were able to take Liege in the rear. Later, when Antwerp was be< sieged by the -Germans, it might possibly have resisted victoriously, had England been able to ensure its supplies by way of the Scheldt. But this safeguard Holland forbade, invoking the text of- its treaties, with the result that Antwerp fell. ' ■ . In 1918 Holland showed the same complacency toward the retracting German • troops as it had shown them in 1914, when they were, as they confidently believed, on the road to victory. For not only did Holland allow them to pass through its territory fully armed, but it -, , allowed them to carry away all the cattle and other booty stolen in France and .Belgium. However, if Holland revealed an indulgence which, at certain moments strongly resembles complicity, it never forgot the duties incumbent'upon it as a neutral Power, nhen Belgium was in question, and in particular when Belgium wished to make use of the Scheldt. The armistice had already been signed a month, and war. was virtually over, when on the 14th of December, 1918, the Belgian Government informed the Hague Cabinet that it intended to send back to Antwerp by way of the Scheldt the ma- , t-eria-1 and provisions belonging to Belgian military bases in France and in England. To this proposition, Holland opposed a categorical refusal.UNFAIR. DISCRIMINATION. '. Belgium is naturally indignant over the attitude of Holland, when it presumes to close its two chief means of' access and egress whilst. opening them wide to its enemies. It has' therefore placed the issue before the Peace Conference, which has made laudable but fruitless efforts to satisfy Belgium without displeasing Eolia-nd, and has merely succeeded, by this policy, in rousing Holland's discontent without satisfying Belgium. ■■■- , The Council of Ten has had the question before it since February last. Innumerable notes have been exchanged with no apparent result, although the Committee on Belgian Affaire is fully aware that the treaties of 1839 have much weakened the defensive power of Bel-* gium, and should in consequence be revised." . The Council of Ten, since transformed into the Council of Five, declared, . on 4th June, that.the treaty should be completely revised, but with the express stipulation that the revision should comprise "no transfer of territorial sovereignty" and should create no "inter- '■ national servitude." But the Belgians are demanding a territorial modification, and a transfer of sovereignty. The Dutch on their side declare themselves ready to make all possible concessions except those which - are asked of them. '.""'' The conflict therefore is far from being settled, though the Entente is determined : to arrive at a peaceful solution of the problem In fact, the Belgian Government, in order-to prove its, conciliatory disposition, appears willing to abandon, momentarily at least, all claims of a military nature and to merely demand certain commercial improvements with regard to the Scheldt: It asks the right to drag and to buoy the channel of the ' Scheldt without having to ask the authorisation of Holland. •- ■